Speaking for The Young Messiah cast and crew, Price said, “This was an elaborate journey. This film got shut down, and I made a commitment to the people that were involved that I would either get it done or die in the process, and did a little of both. So, thank you so much for this recognition.

“I can’t thank Adam enough and his mom for making the trip, my daughter who was part of the film, Cyrus and Betsy, I call them Cyrus B. DeMille. So if you want an epic movie, Cyrus B. DeMille is the guy. Betsy wrote the scene with Mary and Jesus under the tree, which I think is, at least according to Chris Columbus, one of the five most beautiful moments ever put on film. And if you haven’t seen it, I would encourage all of you to take a look at The Young Messiah.”

Accepting for Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love was 9-year-old Alyvia Alyn Lind, who played Dolly Parton as a young child in the movie.

“Thank you so much!” Alyvia exclaimed. “We’re so happy for this … this movie’s so amazing. I’m so honored that it got to win tonight.”

“I want to thank God,” Haskell continued. “I want to thank Ted Baehr and this incredible organization, the Movieguide® Awards. The people standing behind me are basically the wind beneath our wings. Just know that to stand in the light of God’s grace and to show people who you really are is what it’s about. That’s who Dolly Parton is, and we love her, we appreciate her, and we cherish her. She is a servant of God, and we love telling the stories of her life. Thank you so, so much.”

A highlight of the awards gala was Movieguide®’s presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award for Communicating and Living the Good News to the Rev. Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, The Family Channel, Regent University and Operation Blessing.

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen,” Rev. Robertson said after receiving a standing ovation. “Thank you so very much.

“I want to thank Ted Baehr and this wonderful organization for this honor you’re giving me. It’s been a thrill. It’s been a long journey, 55 years of broadcasting. I guess that’s a long time. I’ve done 10,000 live television shows, 10,000 of them. You guys with these scripts should know, you do a movie, a week, a month, a year. I do five a week, but anyhow, that’s the way it goes.

“God has blessed me. We are so privileged to live in this great land. We are so blessed. I’ve been all over the world. I’ve seen desperate poverty. I’ve seen suffering. I’ve seen leper colonies. I’ve been to people who were desperately poor, didn’t have enough food to eat and done what I can to help them along the way.

“To realize when you come back to this nation, you get clean water, you take that for granted. Most people can’t get it. I’ve been to India where they had to drink out of these feted pools that were just green and sickening, [but] we have fresh water, we have fresh air, we have delicious food. We have, even though the freeways are blocked up, roads that work. Most of them are dirt roads in other countries. We have so much here in this nation, and we are so blessed.

“In another month, I am going to be 87 years old! Praise God for His blessing and my life,” Robertson concluded. “I’ve only got 13 more years to go, and I’ll hit 100, and then I guess it’s 110 after that, but whatever it is, thank you all. Ted, thank you. God bless all of you. God bless America.”

One of the most passionate winner’s speeches came from actress Faith Ford of The Bridge Part 2, who won the Grace Award for Most Inspiring TV Performance by an Actress.

“Well,” she said, “first off, I’m gonna thank a being that’s very important in my life, and that is God. I’m a granddaughter of a preacher, and [he] would be very proud right now.

“Karen Kingsbury wrote an amazing book that was inspirational, and in this time, we need lots of that. We need to be inspired. We need to think of who’s coming up behind us, which is something I’ve always thought when I moved to New York when I was 17. I always thought about all those little girls and little boys and their parents and things they might be watching.

Other winners of the Grace Awards for Inspiring Performances in Movies & TV included Adam Greaves-Neal, who played Jesus as a young boy in The Young Messiah, Melissa Joan Hart for God’s Not Dead 2 and Devielle Johnson, who played a pastor and marriage counselor in A Time to Dance.

Miracles From Heaven won the Teddy Bear Award for Best Movie for Families, while God’s Not Dead 2 won the Papa Bear Award for Best Movie for Mature Audiences.

Hacksaw Ridge won the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation’s Faith & Freedom Award for Presenting Positive American Values in Movies, and the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Channel’s television movie Operation Christmas won the Faith & Freedom Award for TV.

Taking home the $15,000 Kairos Prize for Beginning Screenwriters was Trisha Mammen from Daly City, California, for her script The Prayer Box.

The spiritually uplifting screenplay is about “a young boy who tries to catch God’s attention by raiding the church prayer request box, and encounters the lives of people who will lead him to the very love he desperately needs.”

The Kairos Pro Prize for Established Filmmakers went to a comedy/drama titled Donuts With Jerry, written by Ron and Mitzi Lynton-Peer from Phoenix, Arizona.

The story is about “a mysterious stranger who becomes stranded after a car accident in a small town at Christmastime, and becomes embroiled in the mayoral election between the ruthless businessman, who rules the town, and the feisty female owner of the donut shop.”

The Kairos Prizes are given to the best, most inspiring screenplays that “greatly increase man’s love or understanding of God.”

Sponsored by Pure Flix Streaming, the prizes were presented by Pure Flix co-Founders David A.R. White and Michael Scott, the men behind God’s Not Dead and the upcoming drama The Case for Christ.

During the 25th Annual Movieguide® Awards, founder and Publisher Dr. Ted Baehr presented Movieguide®’s Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry, which year in and year out shows Hollywood and the news media that TV viewers and moviegoers prefer movies and television programs with biblical, morally uplifting, faith-based, patriotic and conservative principles and values.

For example, Dr. Baehr reported that four of the top five movies at the box office worldwide in 2016 are Movieguide® Award-winning movies with positive Christian, biblical, morally uplifting, patriotic and strong conservative or traditional family-friendly values, including Captain America: Civil War, The Jungle Book, Finding Doryand Zootopia. All four movies appear in Movieguide®’s lists of the Top Ten Movies for Families or the Top Ten Movies for Mature Audiences.

The 80-page 2017 Report to the Entertainment Industry also notes that the patriotic TV program NCIS is not only the number-one TV drama in the United States but also overseas.

In addition, this year’s Epiphany Prize winner, Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, was the most popular television movie by far last year. According to Nielsen’s ratings, the movie’s original telecast and a second broadcast in December were watched by 15.74 million people in the U.S.

That would be equivalent to $136.15 million at the weekend theatrical box office in the United States, using the average ticket price in 2016 of $8.65. By the way, this $136 million would place the Dolly Parton movie in the Top 20 Opening Weekends of all time!

“We use such figures to encourage Hollywood to make more Christian, family-friendly movies and television programs like Dolly Parton’s TV movie,” Dr. Baehr said.

Apparently, this strategy is working like gangbusters.

Since the Movieguide® Awards has been active in Hollywood, the number of family movies released by the entertainment industry has skyrocketed. Now, every major Hollywood movie studio, not just Disney, has a division devoted to making family movies.

Also, since the Movieguide® Awards began in 1993, according to Movieguide®’s annual report, the number of movies with strong Christian content has increased 296 percent! In addition, movies with strong Christian content have gone from earning less than $210 million each year at the box office in the United States and Canada to making more than $3.8 billion with a “b.” Those figures don’t even include overseas or home video earnings.

“By putting faith and values in your movies, you reach broader audiences,” Dr. Baehr told the more than 150 attendees from the entertainment industry at the Movieguide® Awards.

“We just want to be humble, support you and encourage you,” he added.

Dr. Baehr overtly preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Hollywood elite gathered at the 25th Annual Awards Gala.

“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” he quoted from John 3:16, “that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. … The Good News isn’t just about the vast future after death. It’s actually about now. Jesus came that you might have life and have it abundantly [John 10:10]. He wants you to have the abundant life now. So, we want you to have the abundant life now.”

Now in its 32nd year, Movieguide® is dedicated to “redeeming the values of the entertainment industry by influencing industry executives and by informing and equipping the public, especially parents and children, about the influence of the entertainment media.”

Other nominees: THE PASSION: NEW ORLEANS, THE BRIDGE PART 2, A TIME TO DANCE, OPERATION CHRISTMAS, POCAHONTAS: DOVE OF PEACE, AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.LD.: SEASON 3: EPISODES: 20-22: Emancipation, Absolution, Ascension

Other Nominees: Kylie Rogers for MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN, Jennifer Garner for MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN

GRACE AWARD FOR MOST INSPIRING ACTING IN TELEVISION

WINNING ACTOR: Devielle Johnson for A TIME TO DANCE

OTHER NOMINEES: Ted McGinley for THE BRIDGE PART 2, Tyler Perry for THE PASSION: NEW ORLEANS, Gerald McRaney for DOLLY PARTON’S CHRISTMAS OF MANY COLORS: CIRCLE OF LOVE, Marc Blucas for OPERATION CHRISTMAS

When radio star Jenny Reed of KKTM-FM is forced to co-host with “The Voice” of charismatic Johnny King, the airwaves of Los Angeles ignite. In a business drowning in testosterone, Red Wine for Breakfast is the story of strong, determined New Yorker who has to shake off the laid-back attitude of LA to overcome the challenges of an industry that threatens to turn her off and a man who only wants to turn her on.

CHALLENGE THE WIND is a powerful American revolutionary War tale that dispenses a deep look at the impact of war on a family and those who come into their circle. The novel captures the souls of the audience through its powerful characterizations. However, the key to this strong historical story is the underlying theme that no matter how noble the cause war is hell on not just the combatants, but the loved ones waiting behind for news that those they cherish still live.

Ad Space Available

Advertisements

This Space Available (Footer, Right) advertising@citizensjournal.us

Space Available

CHALLENGE THE WIND

CHALLENGE THE WIND is a powerful American revolutionary War tale that dispenses a deep look at the impact of war on a family and those who come into their circle. The novel captures the souls of the audience through its powerful characterizations. However, the key to this strong historical story is the underlying theme that no matter how noble the cause war is hell on not just the combatants, but the loved ones waiting behind for news that those they cherish still live.